Outbreak Of The Bird Flu Affects 500,000 Mexican Chickens

According to the Mexico animal health agency, an outbreak of bird flu at seven farms located in central Mexico has affected at least 582,000 chickens.

According to the Agriculture Department, over a million birds were exposed to the disease, but just how many chickens will have to killed has not been determined.

In 2012, an outbreak of the H7N3, a sub-type of the bird flu virus, in western Mexico, let to the slaughter of over 22 million hens, and cause a hike in egg and chicken products.

However, on Friday the department said that the latest outbreak hasn’t affected the chicken product supply. It has said that tests are being done to determine the strain of virus involved in the outbreak, but stated that it didn’t affect humans.

Mexico has a flock of 137 million birds.

Around 14,000 ducks at a farm in Germany are currently being slaughtered after an outbreak of bird flu.

On Friday it was confirmed by a federal laboratory that the H5N1 virus was found at a farm located close to Seelow, east of Berlin. This is the first of this type in Germany in over three years.

The farm’s ducks were slaughtered by officials on Saturday. Tobias Seyfarth, a local council spokesman said in a statement to the news agency dpa that all poultry within a half-mile, or one-kilometer, of the farm will be observed for 21-days, and owners have been instructed not to move the birds and report to them any symptoms that they observe.

The bird flu generally spreads among sick birds, however sometimes it can spread from the birds to humans.

Cambodia has registered seven human cases of the bird flu so far in 2013, and only one person has survived.